The 12th International CSR Forum held in Beijing

On June 6-7, 2017, “Share the Responsibility, Share the future”—— the 12th International CSR Forum and the Award Ceremony of “2016 GoldenBee CSR China Honor Roll” was held in Beijing. This forum provides a platform for CSR experts and professionals to exchange the new tendency of CSR development in China and the world, discuss the major issues of responsibility value, and share the best social responsibility practices of outstanding enterprises at home and abroad, showing its features in “Internationalization, Specialization, Branding, Value”.
 
This forum was hosted by China WTO Tribune, co-hosted by CSR Europe, Council for Better Corporate Citizenship (CBCC), co-organized by Foreign Trade Association (FTA), and supported by UNICEF and Centre for Corporate Social Responsibility of the Embassy of Sweden in Beijing, as well as professionally supported by GoldenBee CSR Consulting.
 
What deserves to be mentioned is that China WTO Tribune, the host of the forum, by referring to international and Chinese sustainability event management standards and guidelines, has carried out sustainability management for the all life-cycle process from forum planning, holding to improvement, so as to make the forum itself play an exemplary role for implementing sustainable concept.

 
In the new round of industrial revolution, the global economy, society and environment began to move towards a new journey of sustainable development. Especially, the United Nations 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) become a “new consensus” of future global development, and corporate social responsibility is a powerful drive for this process. Focused on the sustainable development, there are 8 panels in this forum:
 
·           The 16th Sino-European CSR Roundtable Forum —— Reshape Supply Chain Partnership to Create Shared Values for Sustainable Development
 
·           Making a Difference to the City
 
·           Innovation for Children’s Future
 
·           GoldenBee Enterprises and Best Practices of Responsible Competitiveness
 
·           Youth and Responsibility
 
·           Responsible Brand: Create Outstanding Chinese Brand
 
·           Targeted Poverty Alleviation to Lay a Solid Foundation for 2020 Moderately Prosperous Society
 
·           Global Sustainable Raw Materials Sourcing in Value Chain Roundtable

 
In the forum, Mr. Yin Gefei, Vice President of China WTO Tribune, introduced the latest development trend of CSR in China, Mr. Stefan Crets, Executive Director of CSR Europe, and Mr. Masao Seki, Steering Committee Chairman of CBCC, delivered speeches on the latest CSR development in Europe and Japan, respectively. Meanwhile, Kristin Pålsson, Deputy Director at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs shared “the CSR experience of Sweden”. Although there are different concerns in different regions, there are still some forward-looking issues, such as how business contributes to SDGs, transparent governance, sustainable trade, and responsible investment.
 
In addition, the quantification of social responsibility research, the perceptivity of CSR practice and the high transparency of communication are becoming important means to promote the development of social responsibility. As the guidance and visualized reflection of the CSR development in China, the fourth GoldenBee CSR Index Report was released at the forum in which nine findings of CSR practices and proposed six recommendations based on these findings were revealed.
 
With keywords of “Common Vision, Responsible Competition, Targeted Practice, Cross - border Cooperation, Shared Value”, GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative is devoted to contributing to China's National Plan on Implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the achievement of SDGs. As an upgrading version to GoldenBee CSR 2020, GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative will promote social responsibility development to a higher, broader and deeper level and boost the global sustainable development.

 
In 2017, 12 GoldenBee CSR 2020 initiators unanimously agree to further advance the 2020 goals to 2030 goals, with long-term action to fulfil responsibility, and the GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative also ushered in new initiators and issues. In this forum, State Grid Corporation of China (SGCC) released “Comprehensive Social Responsibility Management” Result, Guangzhou MBS Environmental Technology Corporation established Goldenstone Carbon Reduction Alliance.

 
To respond to United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, China WTO Tribune, together with SINOPEC, Fosun Pharma, Philips Lighting, CHALCO and Yunnan Copper Group, Mary Kay (China) Cosmetics Co., LTD., United Technologies Corporation (UTC) and China Friendship Foundation for Peace and Development, IBM, and Nestlé China launched 8 issues of “GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative” and clarified specific goals and approaches. Heretofore 21 enterprises and 2 organizations have become the members of GoldenBee Global CSR 2030 Initiative. These practices that are being or will be pursued in China will contribute to the global sustainable development.
   
One of the highlights in the forum is GoldenBee CSR Leadership Summit, an ideological banquet on CSR and sustainable development. In this summit, Christian Ewert, Director General of Foreign Trade Association (FTA), Hou Mingjuan, Director of Senior Marketing and Public Relations, Qualcomm, and Qian Xiaojun, Assistant Dean of School of Economics and Management, Tsinghua University, delivered the speech themed with “Change Our World”.

 
At the end of the forum, the 10th “GoldenBee CSR China Honor Roll” was released. By submitting questionnaires and responsible competitiveness practices, 47 enterprises were on the list after the evaluation of expert committee. 36 new GoldenBee Enterprises were awarded, which also makes the GoldenBee enterprise family members accumulate to 291.
 
The International CSR Forum has always been concerned about the corporate responsibility practice with concept of "Responsible Competitiveness", actively search and encourage enterprises who pursue bee-like development to promote cross-border cooperation and build a sustainable future.